1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to middleware and a media data audiovisual apparatus with the middleware.
2. Description of the Related Art
Development of digital technique is making it possible to store mass of media data for its applications without degradation. In particular, with a tendency toward lower cost of processors and recording devices, digital recording apparatuses employing hard discs to the recording devices are being offered recently to the public.
In these digital recording apparatuses, not only hardware functions but also what is made possible by making the best use of the hardware functions is of importance, and software is therefore being recognized to be more significant functions. In this connection, there is a demand for efficient development of an attractive application program.
However, in the related art, an application program has been developed individually every apparatus, resulting in the need for higher cost to develop the application program.
Particularly, extraction of necessary portions for the application program from mass of media data is considered to be the common processing required for most application programs from the viewpoint of characters of the apparatus, whereas no more than an access to EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) has been applied to the above processing in the related art.
The above access method permits an access to media data in content data units with information such as genre and appearance actors/actress using as keys through the use of EPG, while being limited to an access to the contents of each media data as desired.
That is, in case of video data, for instance, since the video data is normally managed as an array of a plurality of time-based continuously-ordered frame images, the above access method also permits an access to the frame images by specifying a time and a frame number through the use of EPG.
However, it is difficult to access contents of each media data as desired. With the above access method by use of EPG, it is difficult to extract only frame image portions representative of a certain appearance actor/actress from the video data for continuous replaying, or to join only specific scenes together for creation of a digest version of specific scenes.
An access by use of meta-data is considered to be available as one of methods for an access to the contents of each media data as desired. It is to be understood that meta-data represents data about data and involves data in general for supporting an access to media data, and EPG is included in the meta-data as well.
The meta-data includes information such as xe2x80x9cWhat kind of scene are visual and audio parts or the like segmented into?xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cWhat or who is represented in each scene or frame?xe2x80x9d or the like, as well as information like xe2x80x9cWhich content data or scene has been viewed and listened by each individual user before now?xe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cWhen and by whom was each content data or scene viewed and listened?xe2x80x9d or the like. Thus, information to the effect that xe2x80x9cWhich part of which media data is a certain appearance actor/actress represented in?xe2x80x9d or the like may be grasped through the use of meta-data, permitting an access based on the media data contents to the media data like the processing of xe2x80x9cextracting scenes representative of a certain appearance actor/actressxe2x80x9d.
The meta-data is acquired in a variety of formats from various sources, inclusively of meta-data varied in a format of media data, meta-data distributed together with media data through data broadcasting, meta-data acquired through external network such as internet, meta-data automatically created through an analysis relating to media data on the apparatus side, meta-data created attendant upon an audiovisual history of media data like an audiovisual history on a user basis and meta-data created by a user oneself or the like. For that reason, it is not easy to create an application program permitting an access to media data by use of these meta-data, and besides, a great effort is required for development of the application program permitting an access to media data by use of meta-data.
An object of the present invention is to provide middleware permitting a versatile access of frame image portions of media data by use of meta-data, and a media data audiovisual apparatus installed with the middleware.
Another object of the present invention is to provide middleware permitting an execution of media data synthesis process, and a media data audiovisual apparatus installed with the middleware.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide middleware, which permits significant access of frame image portions representative of a certain appearance actor/actress to media data by use of meta-data, execution of media data synthesis such as creation of a digest of media data and also efficient development of an application program having the above functions, and also a media data audiovisual apparatus installed with the middleware.
To attain the above objects, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a computer program of middleware for an apparatus such as a media data audiovisual apparatus which stores and replays media data. The computer program according to the present embodiment comprises; (a) media data management means providing media data management functions including replaying, readout, recording, deletion and synthesis of media data, and recording of an access history to media data; (b)meta-data management means providing meta-data management functions including readout, recording and creation of meta-data, and transaction processing attendant upon an access to meta-data; and (c)query means providing highly abstractive access interface for an application program through vicarious execution of the processing for an access to said media data management means and said meta-data management means. The computer program according to the present embodiment is configured to provide functions of a database of the media data for the application program as a whole.
The computer program according to the present embodiment permits a significant access of frame image portions representative of a certain appearance actor/actress to media data by the use of meta-data managed by the meta-data management means, execution of media data synthesis such as creation of a digest of media data through the use of the functions of the media data management means and, also efficient development of the application program having the above functions through the use of the functions of the query means.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the media data management means may be configured to record an access history to the media data by converting access history information into meta-data for recording into the meta-data management means.
The computer program of middleware according to the above embodiment of the present invention permits unified management of audiovisual history information on a user basis as well through both the middleware and the application program similarly to other meta-data. Thus, the size of the application program may be held as small as possible, and besides, the audiovisual history information may be interchanged among other audiovisual apparatuses installed with the same middleware through conversion of the access history information into the meta-data.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the media data management means may be configured to record the media data by creating meta-data for recording into the meta-data management means through application of a pre-registered data analysis process on inputted media data.
The computer program of middleware according to the above embodiment of the present invention permits creation of meta-data together with the media data on the side of the audiovisual apparatus even when the meta-data is not provided, and also may operate the application program utilizing the meta-data.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the functions of meta-data creation of the meta-data management means may be separated as an independent plug-in component, and the computer program of middleware may be configured to provide; (a) a function to incorporate dynamically said plug-in component into a system; (b) a function of aborting disused plug-in component; and (c) a function of selecting and executing automatically a plug-in component which matches a purpose of an application program out of the already incorporated plug-in components.
The computer program of middleware according to the above embodiment of the present invention permits dynamic incorporation of meta-data, unified management of meta-data through conversion of the meta-data obtained from various sources into a format interpretable by the middleware and also installation of new algorithm/formats, even if would be developed in future, without the need for changes of the middleware/system.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, said functions of said query means to provide highly abstractive access interface for the application program through vicarious execution of the processing for an access to said media data management means and said meta-data management means as an independent plug-in component, and the computer program of middleware may be configured to provide; (a) a function to incorporate dynamically said plug-in component into a system; (b) a function of aborting disused plug-in component; and (c) a function of searching a plug-in component which satisfy a condition indicated by an application program out of the already incorporated plug-in components.
The computer program of middleware according to the above embodiment of the present invention permits extension of the middleware functions at need to meet various requests from the application program and also may divide the work for development of the application program between a developer engaged in development of the basic functions by use of the functions of the meta-data management means and the media data management means and a developer engaged in development of the functions of the whole application program by use of the basic functions, resulting in further improvement on development efficiency of the application program.
To attain the above objects, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a media data audiovisual apparatus having the functions of recording and replaying media data. The media data audio visual apparatus of the present embodiment comprises a media data recording device for storing the media data, a meta-data recording device for storing meta-data and a processor for interpreting and executing an application program. The media data audiovisual apparatus of the present embodiment is installed with the middleware in accordance with above described embodiments of the present invention.
The media data audiovisual apparatus according to the one embodiment of the present invention permits the application program to be operated by making the best use of its characteristics in storage of media data, resulting in the efficient utilization of a mass of media data.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a computer program or a memory containing the computer program, a method of using a computer processor according to the computer program, or an apparatus installed with the computer program. The computer program may comprise: media data management means providing media data management functions including at least one of replaying, readout, recording, deletion and synthesis of media data, and recording of an access history to media data; meta-data management means providing meta-data management functions including at least one of readout, recording and creation of meta-data, and transaction processing attendant upon an access to meta-data; and query means providing an access interface for an application program through vicarious execution of the processing for an access to said media data management means and said meta-data management means.